by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
There were lots of wide eyes and broad smiles on the faces of several City Council members who got their first look Tuesday inside downtown’s new Main Library, but the smile on Suzanne Jenkins’ face stretched the widest.
The new $95 million, 300,000 square-foot building is going up in the middle of Jenkins’ district. By the time the doors open late this year, downtown will feature a state-of-the-art facility for reading and research, said Project Manager Rex Holmlin.
Inside the building, patrons will find $5 million in books, more than $300,000 in art, a cavernous reading room and facilities to encourage young readers. As she perused renderings of the building’s features stationed around the still half-built library, Jenkins said she’ll be a frequent visitor.
“I’m going to move my district office into the top floor,” she joked.
Although he estimated the project will come in at $1.2 million under budget, Holmlin said the City would provide first-rate amenities for its users. Furniture, building materials, lighting and computer facilities were all chosen to provide long-term value, said Holmlin.
“We’ve worked hard to pick materials that are going to be longer lasting,” said Holmlin. “There’s a higher capital cost going in, but we’re going to save money in the long run, because we won’t be constantly replacing things.”